SpaceX Posted Nearly $5 Billion Loss Last Year from AI Spending
The Takeaway
- SpaceX lost nearly $5 billion on about $18.5 billion revenue last year.
- Loss figure includes xAI, acquired by SpaceX in February.
- IPO investors will finance Musk’s unproven AI ambitions.
SpaceX lost just under $5 billion last year while generating more than $18.5 billion in revenue, two people familiar with the figures said.
The financial figures include xAI, the Elon Musk-founded artificial intelligence company that SpaceX acquired in February. The net loss, as well as other financial figures that consolidate SpaceX and xAI’s performance, haven’t been previously reported.
SpaceX has closely guarded its financials as it prepares for what will likely be the largest initial public offering of all time. The loss figure shows that investors who participate in the IPO will essentially be financing Musk’s unproven AI ambitions in order to get a piece of a high-performing commercial space and telecom firm.
SpaceX spent heavily on chips and data centers to power xAI, with capital expenditures for the division nearing $13 billion. That was 50% more capital spending than the rocket and satellite divisions combined.
SpaceX’s core businesses of selling rocket launch services to governments and companies, as well as selling its own Starlink satellite internet services, together generated nearly $8 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation in 2025.
The two space-related divisions are intertwined, with most SpaceX launches of its Falcon 9 launches carrying Starlink satellites, rather than other companies’ payloads.
Overall, including its AI division, the company generated just over $6.5 billion in adjusted EBITDA.
SpaceX’s depreciation of chips, rockets and satellites was among its largest expenses, topping $6.6 billion. Other large costs were stock-based compensation and interest expenses, which each neared $2 billion.
For SpaceX bulls, the company’s allure is its dominance in the commercial space market, where it sends by far the most payloads into space, lapping competitors. That could further its ability to catch up in the AI race in the coming years if it can bring down the cost of launching solar-powered data centers into orbit, as Musk has said he wants to do.
SpaceX is hosting investor meetings this month and sending invitations to a two-day IPO sales pitch in southern Texas and Tennessee, where it launches its new rocket and is building data centers, respectively.
In February, Musk orchestrated the merger of SpaceX, his crown jewel, and xAI, the AI model company he founded to rival OpenAI. The combined company is planning to go public in June.
Anthony Armstrong, a former Morgan Stanley banker, recently departed as chief financial officer of xAI, The Information reported Thursday.